There is a continued consumer interest in the use and development of non-conventional medicines that can be seen as complementary to those remedies prescribed by the practitioners of conventional medicine. One such field of complementary non-conventional medicine may be homeopathy, which may use as remedies, formulations, and compositions whose ingredients or elements are generally not used in conventional medicine. Further, such homeopathic formulations may present their active ingredients in concentrations much lower than the concentrations substantially used in conventional medicine pharmaceuticals.
Such homeopathic products or remedies may be composed by the homeopathic practitioner using one or more material medica, a compilation of homeopathic remedies using homeopathic elements listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (“HPUS”). The HPUS is generally recognized the Food and Drug Administration (hereinafter “FDA”) of the United States government as its official homeopathic guideline for the classification and regulation in the manufacture of homeopathic medicines.
As part of its oversight of the homeopathic remedy manufacturing, the FDA mandates that homeopathic products be labeled as being a homeopathic remedy and must have one or more corresponding drug claims (e.g., as indicated as for treating a specific ailment or disease.) The FDA does also mandate that pharmaceutical products, while they may not be labeled homeopathic, must be also be marketed with one or more drug claims.
On the other hand, non-homeopathic, non-pharmaceutical products (e.g., dietary supplements and the like) cannot be labeled as being homeopathic and cannot be otherwise associated with drug claims. The non-homeopathic, non-pharmaceutical products (e.g., dietary supplements) can be associated with a more general structure/function claims (e.g., may help or otherwise facilitate the proper operation of an organ such as the eyes or ears). As such, when non-homeopathic, non-pharmaceutical products are mixed with homeopathic products or elements, even as inactive ingredients, the HPUS holds such a mixture is not a homeopathic remedy. Further, the FDA label advertising and label regulations prohibit the resulting mixture from being labeled as being homeopathic or otherwise be marketed or sold in association with drug claims.
There is a possibility that an oral dosage-based homeopathic remedy may be associated with non-homeopathic elements (e.g., pharmaceutical elements and non-pharmaceutical elements such as dietary supplements) and may still legally claim (e.g., be labeled) to be homeopathic and lay forth medical claims if: 1) the overall remedy product is structured to generally keep the homeopathic remedy physically separated from non-homeopathic element(s); 2) allowing for the separate absorption of homeopathic remedy and non-homeopathic elements at different areas or portions of the alimentary canal (e.g., the digestive tract).
If an oral dosage product, which is capable of separating homeopathic elements from non-homeopathic elements, is swallowed, then the homeopathic element or remedy on the surface of the oral dosage product could first be generally delivered and absorbed in the mouth of the user. The remaining non-homeopathic element or product could then be generally separately delivered and absorbed in other portions of the remainder of the alimentary canal (e.g., stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and the like).
What is needed therefore is an oral dosage apparatus and methodology wherein one or more homeopathic remedies are packed in the same delivery apparatus with one or more non-homeopathic elements, but are kept separate from one another to allow for simultaneous ingestion by the user but further providing generally different absorptions; at generally different times; and at generally different locations in the body of the user.